1. Field of the Invention
this invention relates to a cassette-lid opening mechanism for turning the lid of a cassette in the direction of opening the lid as the cassette moves downward from a raised position in a video cassette recorder (hereinafter referred to as VCR) or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that, after a cassette is inserted into a holder provided in a VCR, the cassette is moved down along with the holder as the holder descends to a lowered position (a loading position) from a raised position (an inserting position). The cassette lid which is disposed to be swingable on the front side of the cassette is opened as the cassette moves down, so that a tape contained in the cassette can be pulled out.
A cassette-lid opening member is secured to the upper-side of the chassis of the VCR body. The cassette lid comes to about on the opening member during the descent of the cassette. The opening member then pushes the cassette lid by its relative motion to swing the lid in the direction of opening the lid. As a result, the cassette lid is kept open when the cassette is in the lowered position.
According to the conventional arrangement, the cassette-lid opening member is fixed to the chassis. The opening angle of the cassette lid, therefore, tends to be caused to vary by the dimensional tolerance of parts of the opening member itself and the assembled position of the opening member. In some case, a part of the tape pulled out from inside of the cassette touches the lid of the cassette due to an insufficient opening angle of the lid. Then, an attempt to completely open the cassette lid might cause the lid to be damaged by an excessive force applied to the lid. The conventional arrangement, therefore, has necessitated a severe degree of precision for the parts and assembly work thereon.